Pages

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Elimination Communication Second Time Around

As you may know, we tried out elimination communication with Noah, and we're trying it again with Eli.

Elimination Communication involves learning your baby's elimination (pee/poop) signals, and holding them comfortably over a potty during those times when you suspect they need to eliminate. For example, Eli usually pees after he wakes from a nap, and after I take him out of the ergo baby carrier. When the baby goes, you signal to them in some way, and they learn to associate that signal with going to the bathroom. It's really simple, and can save some diapers and help your child know that the diaper is not the ultimate place to pee or poop.

With Eli, it's been low-key and fun- a really tiny part of our lives. We're not making a huge effort as it's fairly cold. Yet he clearly knows what to do. So if you're out there with an infant, try it out (or ask me for more details/support if you need it)!

Here's some other posts I've written about our experiences with Noah- he used it regularly until winter, then had about a year break before quickly being completely potty trained around 20 months. [We tried not to coerce or pressure him, which is an important thing to avoid in EC. ]